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Friday, July 13, 2012

Best of the Week #67

It’s finally Friday, and as the homeless man on my way to work said this morning, Smile! It’s just 8 more hours till the weekend! (I don’t love strangers telling me to smile, but he does have a point.) I can also smile because I’ve run 34 miles in the last 7 days, so who knows? Maybe EatRunRead will return to its running roots sometime soon....

Also, I went to see The Steel Wheels last night (I was introduced to them back in November), and they were yet again AMAZING. I love them.

I really don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that this is the best cover ever. "Share it Maybe."

It felt a bit surreal to have such a strong lead on the race at the start of the run. A major goal of mine has been to win a race with the prestige of the New York City Triathlon. I figured that it would take a phenomenal run to do it but instead the race was mine to give up from the first step. I held strong to the finish and I’ve been told that I set a bike course record.

As embarrassing as it is to admit, the simple fact is that whether or not the continent can produce millions of writers, it will not amount to anything until we actually have African Readers, African Readers who will ultimately determine the value of our continent’s literary output, if it is to continue as something beyond some exotic curiosity.

Well this is interesting: “Best Jobs in America.” Note that non-profit genocide prevention researcher is not in the running…shocking!

And this is horrifying. "In Focus: Child Marriage" series of infographics. I'm very sad to say that Niger is "winning"…i.e. losing. :(

In 1872 two men began work on a lexicon of words of Asian origin used by the British in India. Since its publication the 1,000-page dictionary has never been out of print and a new edition is due out next year. What accounts for its enduring appeal?

Flora: “While having tiffin on the veranda of my bungalow I spilled kedgeree on mydungarees and had to go to the gymkhana in my pyjamas looking like a coolie.”

Nirad: “I was buying chutney in the bazaar when a thug who had escaped from the chokeyran amok and killed a box-wallah for his loot, creating a hullabaloo and landing himself in the mulligatawny.”

Judging people is wrong, but when it comes to food choices it’s really easy to do. Mostly, this is an okay practice, as long as you don’t say anything out loud about it while they are eating…But! Sometimes it’s really hard not to question someone for failing to understand the glory of a certain food you love. Because I mean…right? It’s delicious and it’s the best and what is wrong with you?!

Thanks to my commute-time Express-reading, I got a HT on the Daily Typo:

Seriously, guys: this is how the rule of law works. We set up institutions, give them limited power and a set of rules by which to wield it, and we don’t let them do more than that. If they try to do more, we smack them with a rolled-up newspaper and say “NO! BAD INSTITUTION! GO BACK TO YOUR JURISDICTION” until they learn. The ICC isn’t Dirty Harry, or the Machine Gun Preacher, or that new Tom Cruise character who apparently “doesn’t care about the law,” and “only cares about what’s right.” The ICC cares about what’s right. But like all functional courts, when push comes to shove, it has to say that “the law” beats “what’s right.” The court can’t go about arresting and prosecuting people outside its jurisdiction, no matter how appealing that might sound, because that would be an activity more commonly known as “kidnapping.”

We don’t call this a “disappointment,” we call it a “cornerstone of the rule of law.” People who want something else should hire Tom Cruise.

It's fun time with puns time!

You will love this. "9 Songs that Redeem Boy Bands." (And yes, I’m pretty sure that’s a universal “you.”)
I distinctly remember when I was in 5th grade my elementary school janitor and his wife did a dance to “I Want You” by Savage Garden in the school talent show (it was a small school). Also I feel like 9-year-old Mollie did not quite understand “I Just Wanna Be With You” by ‘N Sync…Oh and the best part is that I know that the next song on the 'N Sync tape is “Here We Go” because I can hear the sequence in my head…

4 comments:

Always a treat to read your weekly recaps. And props for getting back in the swing of things running wise.

Congrats to your friend...dude is super fast. Wish I had that kinda speed.

The ICC is a gross centralized 'authority' that's Euro-centric (and American) powers are used to condemn small nations while the big ones continue to destroy the world slowly (like the US). This type of institution reeks of hypocrisy and selectivity of enormous degrees. The USA isn't even a member. And don't even get me started on the laughable United Nations lol. P-5 basically sums it up...

Child marriage is certainly exploitive. Sometimes I wonder though if my disgust is a product of cultural relativism and ethnocentrism? What do you think? Is there black and white here or can we agree that other cultures have what we consider 'despicable' practices and that they would think the same of some of ours??

Best jobs in America...surprised more aren't governmental. Our bloated bureacracy has TONS of 'cush' jobs with amazing benefits while NGO's like yours struggle. That's democracy, eh?

As far as child marriage goes - I think the ethnocentrism case can be made in the context of a 17-year-old being a "child" vs. an 18-year-old being an "adult," but I think it looses traction when we're talking about married 12-year-olds. I don't know if you looked at all the graphics on the site I linked to, but that and many other studies show that not only is child marriage bad for individuals, but it also negatively affects societies from an economic perspective...so yes it's "despicable," but also bad from a very practical standpoint.

That may be more of a response than you were expecting...but definitely an issue worth thinking about.

Ya, you have a good point. Like I said, I find it exploitive. I do not think a 12- year old can consent to such an arrangement. But I don't know if a set age can be determined either as each individual matures at their own rate. Sexism is awful in every nation.